Obama's Nobel an Insult to War Dead

In a shocking decision, Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Surprised, humbled Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize (AP)
For Obama, Peace in the Morning, War in the Afternoon (Cato)
Peace? The Promise of Peace, Eh, Close Enough (Cato)

The fact that an imperialist President overseeing the continuation of two wars and considering the expansion of one of them has been given this award is nothing short of despicable. The selection committee has made its share of poor decisions in the past, so I'm not going to dwell on it. I am, however, going to use the occasion to remind everyone of the obvious.

The correct course of action in Iraq and Afghanistan remains immediate and complete unilateral withdrawl. According to the American Conservative Defense Alliance's Philip Girardi (link), "An increasing number of intelligence analysts and scholars believe that Usama bin Laden is actually dead. General Stanley McChrystal, US Commander in Afghanistan, has admitted that there is no al-Qaeda in Afghanistan." As for Iraq, well...whatever the evidence showed pre-invasion, the case is now clear-cut that we have no interest in being there. We don't and never did have a moral case for being there.

I suspect that this award is more about sticking it to President Bush (not that he doesn't deserve it) and expanding Obama's cult of personality than it is about promoting peace. If Obama had any political sense--or any humility--he would have declined the award. Instead, it seems, the self-aggrandizement engine is operating at full steam.

Obama should be forced to explain himself in some appropriate venue--say, Arlington Cemetery or the crater of a civilian home in Afghanistan. Maybe then the irony wouldn't be lost on him.